On June 1st
2017 I entered Mongolia. My dream had been for many years to ride a horse, by
myself, through the most remote part of the most uninhabited country of the
world: Bayan Ulgi province, the most western province of Mongolia, bordering
China and Russia. Home of the Altai Mountains, home of the eagle hunters, home
of an incredibly hospitable, colourful, strong and welcoming Kazakh culture.

I had been on a horse maybe ten days
in my life and arranged with Stepperiders (a horse trekking company) to
volunteer with them before heading off on a solo trek. Volunteering is quite
expensive though (circa 200 dollars a week) and the solo trek training they
offer even more so. I heard many stories of people being very disappointed with
the solo trek training. But I was lucky to be included in a seven day trek the
day after I arrived. The group included two tourists, two Mongolian horsemen, a
Mongolian driver and cook, and me. During this trip I learned about riding,
staking and hobbling at night, about when to feed, when to unsaddle, and a lot
about Mongolian customs and language.

At Stepperiders I met Lynnea Zuniga
who had come to Mongolia with the same idea in mind: to do a solo trek in
Western Mongolia. We both had spent several months contacting people to prepare
our trip and we decided it made sense to team up to travel west, share costs for
drivers and guides to find suitable animals. Once we were comfortably set-up, we
could always split up. After Stepperiders, I spent another week with a nomad
family who lived south of Ulan Bator. There I rode horses, herded goats and rode
a camel, before meeting back up with Lynnea and travelling west. We ended up
travelling for two months together, after which Lynnea went back home and I
continued solo for another six weeks.

Prior to her
departure, Tamar read The
Horse Travel Handbook.
She wrote, “What an amazing help that book is and will be on my travels!
Thank you so much for putting this all together. It is very helpful and is
exactly what I was looking for!”

Finding animals

Speaking to people in western
Mongolia, first to Australian Long Rider Tim Cope
and also to the guide we hired, Nurbolat Len, we were advised that nobody uses
horses as pack animals in that part of Mongolia. The authentic local way of
transport would be to use a Bactrian camel to carry our luggage. Although this
was a very tempting idea neither Lynnea nor me had much experience with camels.
We wanted to be sure we wouldn’t harm the animals. We asked our guide whether he
could find someone that could teach us about camels for a few days, then we
would decide whether to buy two horses each or a horse and a camel. In the end
we set off with two horses and two pack camels.

The horses in this part of Mongolia
are exceptional. Susanna Rode was also in the Altai Mountains at this time. She
shared this accurate description of the Altai horses with me.

“Even though I have ridden in many
countries, on many continents, these horses made me realize that I knew very
little in terms of what horses can really accomplish. The Altai horses moved
with such ease, and were so surefooted when travelling over steep slopes, that I
felt like I was riding an ibex. What these horses can do was beyond all my
expectations. And travelling with them across snow and crumbling stones, with
the heavy wind blowing, made me feel as if I was in a horse fairy tale world.”

Preparation

Almost none of the nomads speak
English, so bringing a translator with you is wise. If possible, I would advise
you to test your animals with all your gear for a few days before setting off.
Preparation can make all the difference between a successful long ride or a
journey full of disasters. Make sure you give yourself enough time to get ready.

Lynnea and I set off to travel to Ulgi
Sum (the capital of the Bayan-Ulgi province, consisting of about 100,000 people,
mostly Kazakhs) by bus. It is possible to fly, which is much more expensive and
polluting, but a lot faster. The bus takes about 40 hours. It is quite
comfortable although a lot of locals will tell you it’s horrible. The paved road
doesn’t continue all the way, so it’s a bit bumpy now and then; the Kazakh music
can be very loud, but you might grow to like it, as I did.

In Ulgi Sum, Nurbolat’s father picked
us up from the bus station and we stayed with his family. This gave us the real
Kazakh experience: a table always full of food and milk tea, meals shared from
the same plate, a cow roaming the backyard, a dombra (musical instrument) on the
wall and ever smiling people. Nurbolat arranged a driver to bring us to an eagle
hunting family of which the father speaks a little English, to teach us what we
needed to know before heading off solo.

We arrived at their summer ger in the
most beautiful valley on earth, inside the
Tavan Bogd National Park, close to the Chinese border. For the
park you need a permit and the office in Ulgi Sum only deals with Mongolian
speaking people, so you will need to find someone to help you. Both Nurbolat and
Dosjan from Kazakh tour were very helpful. Arriving in the park we were
immediately very warmly welcomed by the whole family and they went way beyond
necessity to help us get ready.

Kazakh Long Rider Dalaikhan, the
father, is a three time eagle hunting champion and as we found out later also a
Long Rider! Twice he rode with his son Alpamys and Canadian Long Rider Bonnie
Folkins through Kazakhstan.

Canadian Long
Rider Bonnie
Folkins
first travelled to western Mongolia in 2007, where she discovered a Kazakh
minority living in the remote Altai Mountains. She discovered that the
Kazakhs were not only still mounted, they had also retained their ancient
tribal custom of hunting wolves in winter with the help of specially trained
golden eagles. The Kazakh eagle hunter, Dalaikhan (right), is one of the
nomads Bonnie photographed. Photo
copyright Bonnie Folkins.

We couldn’t have ended up with a more
skilled family to start our adventure.

Dalaikhan took us on a five day
camping trip around the mountains with his horses and his camel. He taught us
what to do, letting us make mistakes, teaching us how to pack the camel the
traditional way – which is quite tricky to learn -, showing us what sort of
terrain the animals can handle, how to ride with the left hand, leading with the
right, how to cross rivers, how to stake the animals, how to make dung fires for
cooking and making tea and how to offer hospitality to the guests we met on the
way. From then on Lynnea and I always carried a visitor’s bag full of snacks and
treats we could pull out when people would come to visit our camp. It helps a
lot too if you speak a bit of the language. So carry a Kazakh-English
dictionary, learn the basics and get yourself a Kazakh name. We were Aiculu and
Kunsulu which always resulted in laughs and people found it easy to remember our
names. Many times we met people yelling our names, even though we couldn’t
remember where we met these people.

Learn from the Locals

I have been on many solo adventures
before (though not with animals) and the main survival skill I found to be most
useful is the ability to make friends. Language, gifts, sharing food, all these
help. I also carried a chessboard and a guitar. A Polaroid camera was very
successful. We let the children ride our camels and shared everything we
carried. Photos from home are really appreciated too. Almost everyone went
through our whole phones looking at all the pictures, so censor out what you
don’t want to show beforehand.

Respect the customs. We didn’t show
our shoulders or legs and mostly wore head scarves. Even though this was not
expected from us as foreigners, it was appreciated. Almost every ger we passed
invited us for tea and the least we could do was be good hosts to every person
that visited our camp. Though there are not many people in this area we found
gers almost every day and even when we thought there was no-one anywhere close,
a horsemen would often show up and come over. So be careful with naked swims.
The longest stretch for not seeing anyone was ten days. This happened around
Yamaat, in Uvs province. We arrived just after all the nomads moved out of the
cold mountains on to the warmer river shores. Although one marmot hunter walked
by as I was just drying up from a naked swim in the river again, I keep hiding
behind my saddles!

Gear & tack

We bought saddles at the market in
Ulan Bator. I didn’t see many saddles at the market in Ulgi. But it won’t be
hard to buy a saddle from local nomads, possibly from the people you end up
buying your animals from. Depending on which style of saddle you would like to
ride: Mongolian, Russian, Kazakh, prices for a saddle can range from between
100.000 to 300.000 tugriks ($40 to $125).

You might manage to find a nice smooth
bit in Ulan Bator, but it’s not a bad idea to bring a bit from home. We saw
several horses get sores from the roughly forged bits locally available. The
horses are reasonably soft-mouthed and I’d say a broken snaffle bit would be
enough. Also, get everything in pony sizes, the horses are quite small in
comparison to ours.

In Ulgi there are plenty of ATM’s and
in the smaller towns there is usually a bank. But don’t expect local banks to
either be open and able to give you the amount of money you need at the moment
you ask for it.

In a message
to the Guild, Tamar wrote, “I was together with Lynnea Zuniga for the first
two months: two girls, two horses, two camels, two dogs. And I continued on
for six weeks on my own with two horses after Lynnea returned home.”

Permits

During our five day training trek, we
fell in love with Dalaikhan’s camel. He offered to find us suitable animals. We
went back to Olgi to arrange a permit for the Tavan Bogd National Park, which
was quite a hassle. We were told that within 30 kilometres of any border you
need a permit. Plus, they usually won’t let you in without a guide. We insisted
and found an option of getting a Spot trekking device. It took many days though
and increasingly cost more money. Finally we ended up paying 300 dollars for a
three week permit. Possibly it would have been cheaper to hire a guide. Also,
with the knowledge I have now, I would have probably wandered around the
outskirts of the national park, equally beautiful, less touristy and no hassle
with permits. But we were in.

“We started at Dalaikhan’s house at the Chinese border, deep south west
inside the Tavan Bogd National park. We worked our way to Malchin (the
highest peaks of Mongolia, passing Black Lake, Khoton Nuur and Death Pass.
Then we went north to Zagaannuur, Nogoonnuur and Boxmoron before going into
the Yamaat valley and over the pass to Olonnuur. There our ways parted and I
went south to the salt lake. I followed the Kovd River all the way back to
Olgi Sum, Sagsai Sum and finally Altai Sum.”

What to bring

At the market in Ulgi we bought things
like canvas, axes, stakes, plastic containers, food for three months and set off
back to Dalaikhan and his family. Though camels can carry a lot more than
horses, it is still advised to keep your pack as lightweight as possible. Also
because of environmental awareness we did not bring any canned food, glass jars
and tried to limit our plastic. Along the way it is very possible to buy meat
and all sorts of milk products form the locals. Bring your own bottles for milk
and yoghurt though. Dried meat (“suru et” in Kazakh, “borts” in Mongolian) is
not only tasty but also a great source of protein and energy, lightweight and
keeps for a long time. We brought ten kilos. In Olgi we also found a lot of
dried fruit and nuts, flour (to make pasta and bread), some rice, porridge and
we brought oatmeal from Ulan Bator. Once outside of Olgi you will have almost no
opportunity to buy anything fresh, so we brought quite a lot of potatoes, onion,
garlic, a few cabbages and fruit; also to hand out to families we would meet, a
good present. For Dalaikhan we bought many presents to say thanks, including big
pieces of horsemeat and Kazahl, the horse sausage people love.

When we arrived back at their ger, two
horses and camels were waiting for us and the whole family including neighbours
helped out fixing our saddles, sewing together saddlebags and everything we
needed to pack our camels. This was the first of an endless series of amazingly
hospitable and helpful people. I would recommend that you bring large amounts of
presents you can give the families you meet to pay back or pay forward the
hospitality you received from them. Although it is part of the culture, never
take anything for granted, never expect anything and make sure you give back
more than you receive. These people have very hard lives and will share with you
more than they can afford. We brought things like good knives, solar lights,
good quality binoculars, batteries, pens, baseball caps, lip balm, moisturizers,
and lots of little things for the children: hair ties, bracelets, balloons etc.

Safety

To keep you safe on any solo adventure
a
Friendship Book
[Editor's note: The Horse Travel Journal is available in
the US,
the UK and in
Australia]
helps too. Everyone you meet can write something in the book including their
name and telephone number. They are much less likely to take advantage of you
when they write their contact details down and also they can read who has been
your friend before, which every time made us be welcomed even warmer. Some
people had already heard of the two girls and their animals coming their way and
were expecting us.

The few times people invited us to
spend the night in their ger we refused out of kindness, not wanting to invade
their personal space and also feeling more comfortable sleeping close to our
animals, keeping an eye on them.

Another option is to get in touch with
some of the many Peace Corps volunteers that are living all over Mongolia. They
are in the country for two years, speak the language, have a lot of connections
and all the Mongolians we met seem to love them.

We both managed to get a dog and I
would highly recommend it. Lynnea rode her horse around Altai Sum and asked
around until someone was willing to sell her their dog. I got my dog at a small
Nadaam festival where it had been strolling around for a few days. It didn’t
seem to belong to anyone. We asked a few people and then I decided to take him
along for a bit. With a bit of sausage I lured him in, put him on a leash for a
few hours and then took the leash off. I thought if he had a home and wanted to
go back this was his chance, but he stayed with us the rest of the trip. Both
dogs protected our tent, our luggage, us and the animals by barking at anyone
coming close. Especially at night it gave us a much better night’s rest, knowing
the dogs would wake us up if someone tried to come close, which happened quite a
few times. Many Mongolians were scared of the dogs. Also, as a woman alone it
felt much safer.

Tamar and
Tetti travelling through Mongolia.

Animal care

My dog, Tetti, was a good scavenger
and hunter, catching marmot and ground squirrels. But I still fed him more than
I fed myself. He ate everything I ate. I fed him a lot of the dried meat and
flour soups and people along the way gave me so much gort (dried curds) I
couldn’t possibly finish it by myself. But Tetti was very happy to help me out
with that. He followed me everywhere I would go and when it started to get
colder he would sleep in my tent, sometimes pre-warming my sleeping bag.

As for the camels, most Kazakhs lead
their camels on nose pegs. The noses of both our camels were a little bit
infected and got worse during the trip. Every nomad we asked to have a look at
it told us it was perfectly fine though. We had saved the telephone number of an
English-speaking vet and asked for advice through the satellite device we
carried.

Also, we bought SIM-cards from three
different providers
since coverage is available at many places but scattered. It is possible to rent satellite
devices from Ulan Bator but we both had our own: the Garmin Inreach Explorer. It
comes with an SOS-function and is able to send as well as receive text messages
and emails wherever you are in the world. We arranged with a doctor and
people in Olgi that we could contact them in case of emergency. We built a good
support network in case of need.

We decided not to use the nose pegs
but make halters for the camels. It’s not that hard to do and you can download a
‘how-to-make-a-halter’- instructions before heading off on a journey with
camels. It worked fine.

Slowly the animals were getting used
to each other and we found that in a certain order it was much easier to cross
rivers, cross high mountains or other sorts of difficult terrain. When you
travel this part of Mongolia your horses need to be shod and don’t be alarmed
when the nomad that shoes your horse puts him on his back, that’s just the way
they do it here. Carry an extra set of shoes and nails with you. One of my
horses managed to walk the whole three months on the same pair of shoes, the
other had to be re-nailed and reshod twice.

This method
of placing a horse on its back, before it is shod, is also practised in
Kazakhstan.

Also carry needles, thread, pieces of
canvas, leather, felt etc. to make repairs and adjustments along the way.
Especially the hobbles tended to break a lot. In these wide open landscapes it’s
very helpful to have a decent quality pair of binoculars or monoculars. These
make a good gift to some family at the end of your journey too.

We saw many locals tie their animals
together without quick release knots. Nobody brushes their horses or picks out
the hooves. You make up your own mind what you think is good for your animals.
Whenever we rocked up at a ger, immediately someone grabbed the rope from our
hands leading the animals off for us, which is very nice. But many times the
locals were rough on our animals, so we stopped automatically giving the lead
rope to strangers.

Physical care

For yourself make sure you have a good
supply of the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin. You can buy this from MOHOC (“monas”)
pharmacies in Ulan Bator or Ulgii without a prescription for less than $10. It
is a general use, broad spectrum antibiotic that is effective for food
poisoning/gastrointestinal things, typhoid (deadly and present in Mongolia)
urinary tract infections, kidney infections, the plague, and many other things.
Lynnea used it once for food poisoning that she could not get rid of after four
days. Make sure you have your tetanus vaccination. Rabies vaccines for humans
are available but expensive, only partially effective, and they do not last very
long, but I think it is definitely worth considering. Dogs are everywhere and
rabies is prevalent. If you get bit without a vaccine then there’s a serious
possibility of you dieing, depending how far you are from a large settlement.

As for moisturizers, bring enough for
yourself. I am used to be as natural as possible, without using any cosmetics,
but Mongolia is so dry that my hands, lips and skin were cracking open and
hurting so much that it distracted me from enjoying the trip.

Many diseases are in the water, so
make sure you have suitable filters and/or cook all the water you drink. I
brought a Steripen as well as a Lifestraw water bottle, in case one of the two
might fail. The Kazaks themselves almost only drink milk tea.

I have hardly seen anyone drink
uncooked water. The plague is still around as well as many other diseases, so
make sure you carry the right medicines in case you do get sick.

Many diseases are very treatable but
medical assistance in Mongolia is poor. I had one little accident where I ended
up with a hole in my head. The nurse in Sagsai Sum put on gloves, wiped them
clean with a cloth, put a disinfectant (that was two years out of date) on my
wound and then wanted to stitch me up. I thanked him kindly, got out of there
and was happy I carried superglue and iodine.

When preparing your first aid kit,
don’t just think about your own needs, but also consider bringing things for the
nomads you meet. We also gave a man Cortisone cream: he was having an allergic
skin reaction on his arm after bundling grass. As the Westerner, many people
will come to you with their medical concerns, assuming that you will know what
is wrong with them. Many times people told us about their dental/oral pain, and
I wish we had been better prepared, maybe having Mongolian/Kazakh instructions
on how to/the importance of brushing teeth, or on the effect of sugar on teeth.
We gave a lot of Ibuprofen and felt bad that there wasn't something more
sustainable we could do for them.

For the animals bring lots of
antiseptic. The most common things we used were to clean wounds and keep dirt
out of wounds. I wish I had brought Vet Wrap (stretchy, coloured, rolled
bandages that are really versatile and durable for covering wounds). Bute is
great if your horse/camel ever has swelling or joint pain. Also bring Neosporin
and Polysporin.

As for deworming we spent a lot of
time finding deworming paste. We finally found some in a fancy German horse shop
in Ulan Bator and also in a tiny shop at the market in Olgi. It is best to bring
horse medicines from your own country. Dalaikhan told us our horses were
de-wormed in spring and he would deworm them again in autumn after our trek.

Dog medicine is probably also best to
bring from home, as well as medicines for yourself. Many of the pharmacies in
Mongolia sell fake medicines. The brand that is reliable is spelled in Cyrillic:
MOHOC. Also the German brands are reliable. We ended up giving away a lot of
painkillers, so bring extra.

Getting around

For navigation we relied on a map we
bought from the map shop in Ulan Bator. We didn’t find any maps in Olgi but we
had our maps plasticized there. We checked our GPS everyday, making sure we
didn’t accidentally cross the Chinese border. A very useful app is called Soviet
Military maps, from which you can cache maps on your smartphone. These maps are
even more detailed and using GPS, the app shows you exactly where you are at
that moment.

Be aware that none of the nomads
seemed to be able to read maps. They are not all always accurate but your best
navigation skill is to be able to ask for local advice on which direction to
travel, on where to cross a river, on whether there is a bridge, water, or grass
on the way etc.

The
travellers used a combination of old-fashioned Soviet maps and GPS
technology to avoid crossing into China.

Mostly there was plenty of water, but
a few days we crossed extremely dry terrain. When this happened we travelled on
until we finally found a ger, since they usually have some sort of water source
nearby to water their animals.

Water them at least once a day. Also,
when camping, it is advisable to at least walk up to the closest ger, introduce
yourself, make some small talk and ask if it’s alright to camp there. We were
always very warmly welcomed.

Horse theft is a big problem in
Mongolia. Besides all the other advantages and fun experiences it brings,
camping with and making friends with the locals reduces the chances of your
horses being stolen.

Where there are gers the grass is
usually of lesser quality. So make up your mind every day which is your highest
priority. You don’t have to camp right next to a ger, but introducing yourself
to the closest one, maybe buying some products from them, will give you an extra
shield of safety.

For cooking we bought a teapot, which
you can buy anywhere. This turned out to be extremely useful. I carried a little
gas stove for which I was able to find gas canisters at a shop called Seven
Summits in Ulan Bator (highly priced but good quality camping gear). But I ended
up hardly using the stove because there was always plenty of dung around to cook
on and in some forested areas even wood.

For deciding on a route Long Rider Tim
Cope gave us very helpful advice. Lakes and forests can be very unpleasant
during the summer months because of the amount of mosquitoes. But travelling in
the mountains, even in August, can already leave you waking up to a thick
blanket of snow. During all of September it was freezing during the nights.
Thankfully Mongolia has plenty of wool clothes for sale at a comparatively low
price and they can keep you warm.

Make sure you have a good warm
sleeping bag. I treated myself to a custom made Mongolian traditional del ($30)
which also served as a blanket. Making dung fires in the morning after snow or
frost can be challenging. It pays off to bring decent lighters from home, since
the lighters we found in Mongolia are of very poor quality.

Keeping warm
in the Altai Mountains is a challenge, even in late summer. Lynnea collects
firewood for the camp.

At night we both hobbled and staked
the animals. On the stakes we had rings that can make a 360 degree turn around.
The longer the rope the more food the animals can reach. But there is also the
higher the chance of the rope getting tangled. I would check regularly on the
animals. Knowing that winter was coming, and that I was asking a lot of them
with this trip, I was determined to give the horses and camels the best possible
treatment.

None of my animals seemed to be
interested in anything else like apples or carrots, so if your animals are
losing weight stop in time or go slower. Give them more time to feed on good
nutritious grass. That’s the best thing you can do for them.

After travelling together, the horses
were so attached to each other and the camels that I only needed to
stake/hobble/lead one of them and the others would follow or stay near. But be
attentive for any signs of emotional or physical distress.

Mongolia is certainly the land of the
clear blue skies. Because there is so much sunshine, a solar panel will charge
all your equipment without any problem. My Goal Zero panel broke after one month
but Lynnea’s Anker worked well. Many nomads nowadays have solar panels where you
could charge your device. Make sure you pay them for this service!

Mongolia has a reputation of theft and
I had some problems on my journey. On different occasions my phone got stolen,
my saddles got stolen, small things like a watch and a spork got stolen, one of
my horses got stolen but I managed to get that back by paying a lot of money. In
the end we set the camels free. I lost my dog but my horses returned to
Dalaikhan and his family, where I know they will be happy and healthy.

Overall
advice: prepare well and give yourself enough time for that, make friends, pay
back and enjoy your time in this incredibly beautiful and amazing part of the
world!

Though she
did experience some problems, Tamar came away from Mongolia with a strong
positive impression about the country and humanity. She wrote, “I strongly
believe that if you approach the world assuming that everyone is an angel,
most of them will turn out to be just that.”

Budget (USD):

Prices will likely change every year
and will be affected by your contacts, but here is what we paid.

$450 - horse

$450 - camel

$110 - driver + petrol one way between
Ulgii to Altai Sum (5 hours)

$50-130 - riding saddles with pads

$5 - bridle/halter

$20 - 60 meters of rope for picketing
and camel packs

$3 - hobbles

$12 - plastic containers to pack
camels - we bought four per camel

$200 -500 - food for 3 months; meat
and cheese are relatively expensive, pasta and everything else is VERY cheap

$800 - guides/friends who helped us
get ready and find animals; we didn’t want to skimp on compensating anyone who
helped us.

$35 - one way bus between Ulan Bator
to Ulgii

You can sell your horses and camels at
the end of the journey, probably for around 700,000 tugriks (approx.. $300), but
we had always planned to give them as gifts to trusted Mongolian friends.